Blog-Generated | Coaching Churches

Why Smaller Churches Are Making A Comeback

Posted by on July 14, 2019

In the height of the mega-church movement, if you were leading a smaller church in the same area, it was going to be extremely difficult to grow. However, the cultural shift with these last three generations values smaller over large. They are looking for community and they have a natural distrust of anything that is big. So smaller can be the new big, if pastors are prepared to lead contextually. This Rainer post is helpful:

“Smaller churches are poised to make a comeback. I’m serious. I see too many signs and indicators to believe otherwise.

For certain, I know the bad news. The median size of a church has declined from around 100 to 70 in worship attendance in a decade. That means one-half of all American congregations have fewer than 70 in worship attendance.”

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The Skills Every Staff Member Needs

Posted by on July 7, 2019

So often in church life, just like the corporate world, we take people who are good in ministry and try to make leaders out of them. There is a tremendous gap between people who are great with students personally and their ability to enlist, train and empower great student lay leaders. The lack of intentional leadership development for church leaders contributes more to church failures than anything else. This post by Church Fuel is a great start:

“Teams come in all sizes and styles. Some teams wear uniforms, practice daily, and compete in tournaments and championships. Some work together on a building project, a life-saving endeavor, or in pursuit of a prosecution. No matter what the team looks like, a common goal is always the pursuit.

Churches have teams, too.”

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Ten Behaviors Sabotaging Your Leadership

Posted by on May 19, 2019

In this day of a major priority being placed on collaboration and empowerment, the question that still remains is how do great leaders stay engaged? Collaboration is not just group think and delegation is not abrogation. This Forbes post is a great read to help know where the lines are:

“Have you ever been in a situation at work where you felt like you lost your cool? Maybe not in that wildly out of control way, but enough to where you felt bad about what you said or did and wished you’d handled yourself differently?”

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How You Live Shows What You Believe

Posted by on May 14, 2019

I do a lot of executive coaching. When people get stuck, many times they are living out of the pain of their emotions or the logic of their own thinking. However, when I press them on what do they really believe about this situation, I immediately bring their faith about God into the conversation. As J.D Greear brings out in this great post, if you believe it then you should live it:

“When we have truly been saved, good works will always follow. When Jesus takes up residence in our lives, it should make a difference. Paul teaches that we are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. Faith is always accompanied by good works.”

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How To Build Trust As A Leader

Posted by on May 9, 2019

There are some leadership principles that are contextual to leading churches but this is not one of them. As a matter of fact, failing in this area as a spiritual leader is magnified many times more than in corporate life. People potentially loosing trust in you is one thing, but in their faith is quite another. This Forbes post is excellent:

“A lack of trust often erodes teams and organizations to the point where people feel that their working environment has become toxic. The results of a toxic work environment — including unnecessary drama, fighting among employees, lack of communication and no clear protocol — can stifle productivity and results.”

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Don’t Be The Boss Who Talks Too Much

Posted by on May 4, 2019

There is a real tension between making sure everyone understands the vision and there is great alignment compared to the tendency as leaders to talk too much. This leadership skill is amplified when leading church staff or lay leaders because there is an even higher need for total buy-in moving forward. This HBR post is the type of leadership development pastors need:

“As head of a startup, I always want to make sure everyone on my team understands the vision for what we’re trying to achieve. I also want to make sure we’re hearing, considering, and incorporating everyone’s ideas, and acting quickly to iron out problems along the way. So we have a lot of group conversations. A lot.

We discuss our mission, goals, and the steps it will take to achieve them. Every time, I look for new ways to say things, in hopes of making the vision crystal clear and discovering even slight differences in how various team members understand our goals.”

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Christianity Isn’t Cussing Less And Giving More

Posted by on April 17, 2019

The biblical tension of being in the world and not of the world is a daily battle. However, we must understand that culture is not our enemy, it is simply the context through which we do ministry. As we do our daily ministry at home, work and in our neighborhoods other people should notice something completely different about our lives. This post by J.D.Greear is convicting:

“The study showed that 84 percent of non-Christians said they personally knew at least one Christian, but only 15 percent thought that person’s lifestyle was significantly different than their own. Non-Christians don’t think we’re different because we’re not different. But we should be.”

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Don’t Give Your Critic Words

Posted by on April 13, 2019

I can think of no greater leadership challenge than being a pastor, where the emotional and spiritual health of the leader has a greater impact on results. Many pastors because of a lack of leadership training wonder almost every day if they are doing the right thing. Combine that with all the negative people in their ministry and discouragement is inevitable. This post by Ann Voskamp encouraged my spirit:

“We stand on the corner of Randolph and Green after a breakfast of sourdough toast, housemade sausage, blueberry pancakes, and coffee with raw sugar. The Uber pulls up and we climb inside, falling into easy conversation with the driver.

Turns out, she’s a chef, but for now she’s feeling burned out. Driving meets the need she has for conversation, and she takes the long way through the city to prove it.”

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10 Habits Of Transformational Leaders

Posted by on April 8, 2019

Leading a local church may be the single most difficult leadership challenge I know. You must have a high level of spiritual security and your significance primarily comes from you’re calling not the response of the crowd. You need to be inspiring and highly relational to move people to change. This Forbes post offers a great list for every pastor:
“A growing number of companies are looking to hire transformational leaders. These are the people who create positive changes in their employees and companies. Transformational leaders are billed as leaders of the future who can help their companies through turbulent times full of change and innovation. But what does it actually mean to be a transformational leader and how can you become one? Here are 10 habits of transformational leaders:

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Cursing The Darkness

Posted by on March 24, 2019

As we enter this post-Christian period in America, I am deeply concerned that we still do not understand why we are increasingly ineffective in making disciples. I hear everything blamed from emerging churches, seeker services, contemporary worship, reformed theology, postmodernism and watered down preaching just to name a few.

We certainly will never be able to solve the problem if we can not accurately diagnose the cause. We must stop cursing the darkness and talking about everything that is wrong and start shinning the light about what is right.

We must start with the simple truth that the people who are not attending church are significantly culturally different from the people who are. This means that all pastors in America must become missional in their methodology in order to reach new people or our churches will die.

The days of build it and they will come through transfer growth are over forever and in the end that is a very good thing.

We must stop preaching that the culture is our enemy. It is simply the context in which we have been called to do ministry. As a necessary reminder the modern culture with all its logic and reason was no friend to the gospel because it produced humanism and evolution.

I am extremely excited about the next generation and their passion for community, integrity, spirituality and service. We need compassion for their lostness but respect for their uniqueness.

It is our responsibility to understand them if we want to reach them and not require them to become like us if they want to come to Christ.

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